Level 1

Well, I start here with that 'marginal', unusual but well-tried, effective and unrestrictive setup for those who need to feel their PC really 'self', really 'their' not being the property of some 'Malevolent Admin'

I should state that the average Windows PC (especially old or low-end) is usually experiencing visible slow-downs due to using popular and wide-recommended complex defending solutions while they doesn't really provide any guarantee of malware-free life.

We cannot abandon the defence at all. But we also see that price we pay for real-time defence (in terms of usability of our PCs not in cash ) is too high as a rule.

I spend some time being familiarized with different security user setups (mostly on wilderssecurity but also here) and found most of them superabundant. And worse - they are too intrusive and unmanageable for general home user. What does such a user when is overrestricted or tired of number of issues with 'system software'? He switches something off, he presses buttons and behaves like good randomizer not like reasonable man.

So I was looking for the setup which could be effective but light, unrestrictive and easy for end-user.

The main principle of defense config is to reduce attack surface by using second-choice apps instead of mainstream. Light instead heavy. Free instead paid. Thus you can combine more layers of protection without cash or performance downsides.

My config (with some variations)works fine on several PCs with XP and 7. It's approved to show its efficiency even in multiuser setup with other non-expert home users (real dummies).

It isn't perfect in theory but it gives a real user-friendly and dummy-compatible protection for a minimal price in practice.

Deleted member 178

ok so if i understand this setup well , you are using monitoring tools to be alerted if any malicious connections/processes are starting , then you stop the process manually or get rid of them via OD softwares? im i right?

could be effective if the user is well skilled , if not , this is the pandora box...

Level 1

Umbra,
any windows setup is pandora box under the management of non-skilled user. Any setup possible to such a user. Any setup which can be consciously managed by average user

The point here is that my config is targeted to get no malware at all. At least it's my reality. My family is a good model of unskilled user to test my setup in real life of average user.

I use OD scanners only to get reinsured that system stays clean. And it's clean. The last malware penetration was about 4-5 years ago through some drive-by catched by my wife. I've made some tweaks to my setup - and I'm here.

But I always look around for new security tools to try and update my config: there are numerous ones that are good enough, but... I don't need them.
But I'll try Secure Folders later. And maybe MBAE. Not on XP. I'm not planning to install .NET higher than present 2.0.

Level 1

jamescv7,
it's my main setup for XP, Vista or Seven. And I don't use any Windows 8-10 boxes to set something else there ;-) I show XP-config just to demonstrate it's power: anyone can use old XP-box (non-supported now) comparatively safe.

Deleted member 178

that is true. But common security softwares , reduces the chances greatly compared to unorthodox setups like yours or the one i used to use before.

take my personal setup, it could be highly lightened but i need some features in each softwares. in fact i could just go with Shadow Defender and appguard i will safe as well. I just like tweaking softwares , and until it heavily impacts negatively my OS responsiveness , i dont mind much.

Level 61

@rodocop : Alright , besides to @Umbra suggestion which is pretty right, you need a straightforward protection reference like Voodoshield where it acts as User Account Control and can determine based on all AV's engines.

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